


The Art of Communication

by FlightOfInsanity



Series: A Pair of Idiots [4]
Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Forerunners, M/M, splendid dust is a child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 18:55:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6622360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlightOfInsanity/pseuds/FlightOfInsanity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bornstellar wants to discuss their relationship; Splendid Dust does not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Art of Communication

Splendid Dust was acting like a child.

Bornstellar deliberately ignored the fact that he was currently hiding, waiting to ambush the Councilor, and reaffirmed to himself that yes, Splendid Dust was the childish one. Not him. Dust.

He would have liked to solve this with a regular conversation but as he’d come to find out, getting Dust to actually talk about things was hard. For as much as the Builder liked to run his mouth, it was almost impossible to discuss anything with him that could be taken as slightly unpleasant or kind of personal.

It shouldn’t have been entirely surprising, he supposed. Each rate had its own rules and conventions for conversations, and Builders and Warrior-Servants happened to be at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Warriors had to get problems out in the open and cleared up as quickly as possible. One had to have full trust in their compatriots in battle and that couldn’t happen if there was some unspoken grievance waiting to crop up when someone’s life was on the line.

Builders, on the other hand, were all about keeping up outward appearances no matter what. As long as they could all work together without too much interference, personal arguments tended to be pushed aside and left to fester in silence. For Councilors, it was even more important to keep personal feelings and problems locked away. There was no shortage of blackmail and political subterfuge and anything that was revealed had the potential to be used as leverage by someone else.

Before, in the old Ecumene, this wasn’t really a problem. Warriors kept to themselves, Builders kept to themselves, and the two rates never typically interacted outside the Council chambers. But now they were trying to restructure their social classes, trying to put everyone on even ground, so to speak. Warriors and Builders had to interact on a daily basis and it occasionally resulted in trouble, but usually nothing that couldn’t be handled with the addition of a neutral party or two.

In Bornstellar’s case, a neutral party wasn’t really an option. He wasn’t trying to sort out a political misunderstanding; he was trying to sort out a relationship. With a Builder Councilor. Who could be difficult on the best of days.

He readjusted to a more comfortable position and thought back through everything that had led up to this moment. It had started, most recently, when he’d ventured out of his personal bedroom and found half-finished diagrams and notes and partially constructed prototypes scattered across every available horizontal surface.

 

* * *

 

_He sighed, picking up the nearest misshapen construct._

_Dust, as it turned out, was a walking disaster. He had no idea how the Builder had made it this far or had any success on the Council being this disorganized. Technically, the Builder had his own residence in the heart of the city; closer to the new Council’s chambers and the news and gossip that ran through the people. Recently, though, he’d taken to making himself right at home in Bornstellar’s little house on the outskirts of the town._

_It wasn’t a bad thing, per se. If Born was being honest, it was kind of nice having the noise and presence of another being in the space. Unfortunately, wherever Dust went his mess followed. And since he’d never been formally invited in, he didn’t have a designated space to put his things. A fact he made up for by putting them everywhere._

_“Dust!” he shouted. There was no verbal response, but he heard something clatter in the kitchen._

_He walked to the door and saw the other hurriedly grabbing a few pastries and fruits, clearly on his way out the door to somewhere._

_“Dust, we need to talk.”_

_Dust’s movements hitched briefly, as he noted the tone and the object in Bornstellar’s hand, but he recovered and strolled up to the doorway. “Can’t talk now – minor emergency at the Council that needs sorted. Maybe later, yeah?”_

_He knocked shoulders with Born and breezed out of the kitchen and out the main door._

_“_ Dust! _” Born shouted, but the Councilor was already gone._

_They’d been through this enough times over the past few years that he knew when Dust said “later” what he really meant was “over my dead body.”_

_The first time it happened, Born had been terrified he’d done something wrong. He had tried to get Dust to sit down so they could discuss what, exactly, they were doing with this relationship and where they thought it was going. The Councilor had conjured some convenient excuse to leave and had disappeared. It finally took Chant-to-Green’s help to finally get him cornered and hold him in one place long enough to get him to talk._

_It happened again when he tried to talk about the two of them officially going exclusive. And again when he tried to talk to Dust about his flirting with anything that moved. Each time the Builder seemed to sense the discussion coming and would get progressively more and more distant until dropping all contact and keeping to himself._

_It was like trying to talk to a spooked animal. Born knew he could let the issue drop and pretend to be completely disinterested in what Dust was doing and eventually the Builder would come back on his own like nothing had happened. Otherwise he would need to hunt him down and wring the conversation out of him._

_Were all relationships this difficult? Or was it just Dust?_

_He made a mental note to ask Chant about it. And for advice on dealing with easily startled wild animals._

 

* * *

 

A little under a week later and he’d finally decided to corner Dust. At first the Builder had given half-hearted excuses for why he was unavailable when Bornstellar asked but then, as expected, he’d quit responding. Even the ancilla at Dust’s home had rebuffed him – politely, of course. After that, he decided it was time to find the Builder and make him listen.

Bornstellar knew Dust was working out of a complex of laboratories near the city center. The complex was a place set up for Builders and Engineers alike to design, build, and test new devices and to create improvements for existing ones. It was a little strange, seeing Builders actually working side by side with the Engineers and their small armies of Huragok and Constructors, but it seemed to be working well. The Builders had started to realize projects were completed more quickly and more accurately when they were onsite to assist and answer design questions. The Engineers simply seemed delighted to not have to jump through bureaucratic hoops to get their questions answered.

After some quick discussion with Forerunners here and there, Bornstellar finally knew which particular lab Dust was in. A lab which, thankfully, only had one exit. So here he was, crouching on a bit of architecture in a shadowy nook in the wall. The lights in his armor automatically ebbed and flowed to match the light flowing up through the wall to help hide his outline. Which was not childish. It was a strategy. Because he was _dealing with_ a child.

Bornstellar was about to shift again when the door to the lab finally slid open and Dust walked out, completely lost in something he was reading. He walked directly by the hidden Warrior without so much as a blink and Bornstellar dropped lightly to the ground behind him.

“Dust!”

That got the Builder’s attention; he stumbled to a stop and carefully peered over his shoulder.

“I just want to talk, that’s all,” Bornstellar said as he slowly approached.

Dust narrowed his eyes, but with his face half-obscured in armor Born couldn’t tell what he meant by it until the Builder bolted. Spooked animal, indeed.

Bornstellar swore and took chase. Dust was smaller and surprisingly fast, but he wasn’t used to the physical exertion of a dead sprint and he quickly slowed. He yelped in surprise as Bornstellar dove into his legs, knocking him onto the ground and trying to pin him down.

“Get off!”

He tried to kick at the Warrior but his legs were tangled up, so he settled for smacking at him. Bornstellar leaned back, trying to keep himself from getting hit in the face as he grabbed at Dust’s flailing hands.

“Will you –” A hand hit him in the eye and he slapped it away. “Dammit, Dust! Stop that!”

He finally managed to grab Dust’s hands and leaned forward to pin them to the ground. Dust wiggled around a little trying to free a limb but seemed to realize he was well and truly caught.

“Get off me.”

“If you would just act like a normal adult you wouldn’t be in this situation,” Born pointed out, not moving.

Dust tried to squirm free again and Born tightened his hold on the Builder’s wrists. “Will you just hold still and listen? I said I wanted to talk, not that it was anything bad.”

Dust didn’t answer, but also didn’t try to escape and Bornstellar took that as his invitation to continue.

“All I was going to tell you was – and this is only if you want – you can move in to one of the empty rooms.”

He paused for a second and quickly added, “And keep all your plans in there… If you want.”

Dust seemed to be having trouble reacting and Bornstellar sat up, releasing his wrists and letting the Builder prop himself up on his elbows.

Bothered by the unnatural silence, he continued, “I mean you’re there most of the time anyway and if you’re going to make a huge mess and eat all the food it only makes sense for you to actually have your own space and –”

Dust cut him off with a shushing gesture.

“You’re… offering me a room?”

Bornstellar nodded slowly.

“I think,” he started, “that would be… nice.”

He smirked up at Born and then rested a hand on the Warrior’s knee, idly drumming his fingers on the armor, “I actually have something to tell you as well.”

Born blinked in surprise at the sudden change of mood, “Oh.”

“Yes.” He smiled even wider. “Now you, being you, might not be aware of this but you are… without a doubt…” He paused for a moment, running his hand a little higher on the armored thigh, before the smile suddenly dropped into a scowl and he smacked an ineffective fist into Bornstellar’s leg.

“The _heaviest_ person I have ever met! Get off!”

Bornstellar rolled his eyes and planted a hand in the middle of Dust’s chest, standing up and shoving the Builder back onto the ground in one fluid motion.

 


End file.
